Adding a second cardholder

J-J

I currently hold three credit cards, which is a little more than I need, so I am thinking about closing my account with Egg.

One advantage of my Egg card is that they have provided me with a second card to give to my partner. Signing up was really just an administrative exercise and the card came immediately. My partner has no access to my account but just has my permission to make payments.

So, as I am looking to leave Egg, I have asked HSBC (the provider of another card of mine - the one with the highest credit limit) to provide an additional card to my partner. HSBC, however, seem to treat the process very differently. They have sent me a large paper form which asks all sorts of details of my partner, including her bank sortcode and account number and her employment details.

I phoned them up and they said they need all these details so (A) they have her details on file so she can pass security checks should she phone up about my account and (B) so they can run a credit check on her because "in effect they would be lending to her too".

This makes no sense to me. A second cardholder is just that. The account remains mine and I am solely liable for any debts. Nothing she can do will make her owe the bank money, and she isn't signing a credit agreement, so why does she need to be credit checked? And why do I have to sign to allow HSBC to divulge account information to her? The assistant was also unclear about whether this application would cause our credit reports to show financial associations with each other.

What's going on here?

Hunger4Unger

Some people with poor credit ratings get a spouse/friend/family member to open a credit card account and then add them as a supplementary card member on a private agreement that the sup will pay the bills. When the sup inevitably maxes out the card and cant pay the bill, it's the basic C/M left to pick up the pieces - and the basic may not be able to pay as they didn't actually want the account and didn't expect to have to pay it.

So really, it's just HSBC covering their !!!!!!.

amylou8

I have a capital one card and to get my partner a card I only had to give his name and address, no credit checks involved!

Tonyr

Well i put my partner onto our card - ran up a bill (jointly) of around £10k, then she left - pointing out in no uncertain terms that she is not liable for any of the debt...how do you sue the mother of your kids?

Dabooka

Tonyr wrote: »

Well i put my partner onto our card - ran up a bill (jointly) of around £10k, then she left - pointing out in no uncertain terms that she is not liable for any of the debt...how do you sue the mother of your kids?

Ouch. I feel for you mate, that's pretty grim.